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From: jordan@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Re: Sending Email to People who post to the USENET
Message-ID: <17699@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Wed, 4-Mar-87 18:43:04 EST
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.17699
Posted: Wed Mar  4 18:43:04 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Mar-87 05:30:30 EST
References: <1354@hplabsc.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: jordan@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (Jordan Hayes)
Organization: Experimental Computer Facility (XCF), UC Berkeley
Lines: 16

it's really a shame that people like dave believe that the Path: line
has any useful information in it.  it should *never* be used for
routing mail, not even for a hint.  not even with any amount of AI you
might code into your idea ... it's simply not going to work.

i get a large amount of mail dumped into the postmaster mailbox all the
time (this is on the machine ames, a backbone site) that is people
trying to use the Path: line and who also have a broken From: line so
that the bounce bounces ... when i had more time, i used to send a note
back telling them what to do ... after 100 or so of these, i gave up.

it made me wonder about why people think mail is so unreliable
sometimes.  it's probably due to the fact that the From: line is
unrealiable and a bounce was unable to get sent back ...

/jordan